


The Prisoner's Dilemma

by SweaterPause



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Based on Zero Escape and Trivial Murder Party
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-13
Updated: 2016-12-18
Packaged: 2018-09-08 07:46:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8836252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SweaterPause/pseuds/SweaterPause
Summary: Mark, Jack, Felix, Arin, and Danny are trapped in a warehouse by a sadistic AI and must play a series of games to make it out alive.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is pretty much Trivial Murder Party but in the warehouse setting of Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward. Enjoy!

Mark rolled over in his sleep, facing away from the loud and obtrusive noise that was trying its hardest to pull him back into consciousness. He had a long night and this was the first night in a long time that he could sleep in. 

The noise grew louder and louder into an intense barrage of static and crackling and he jackknifed to a sitting position and covered his ears.

“Wakey-wakey! Can ye hear me now fucko?”

The noise abruptly stopped and Mark finally opened his eyes and took in his surroundings. Where was he?! He was still fully dressed, lying on metal in a room he didn’t recognize. All for walls were made of concrete with a plasma screen tv attached to three of them. The fourth wall had a metal door with a key code panel next to the handle, most likely locked but he made a break for it anyway. 

Locked. That’s when the panic set in.

“You look, SHOOK!”

Mark nearly gave himself whiplash looking behind him for the source of the strangely Irish sounding voice. The screen directly behind him displayed a man with neon green hair grinning in a chair, “Let me outta here!”

The man held up his hands defensively “Woah woah woah Mark that’s not how this works!”

“LET ME OUT-“

“LET ME FOOKIN TALK!,” he raged,”…ok you want out right? Well I’m not the one who put you here. I’m not even real! I’m an A.I.”  
Mark walked closer to the screen, trying to regulate his breath, “Like a computer? That impossible, look if its money you want I can-“

“UGH, would you all please SHUT UP! YOU’RE ALL TALKING AT ONCE AND IT REALLY-“

“WAIT THERE ARE MORE HERE!?” He ran back to the door, “HELP ME!! SOMEONE!”

“Oh, my god. You Swedish bitch. If you try to break my screen again I WILL administer a controlled shock to everyone in this facility.”

Mark stilled. Swedish? Did that mean…

His thought was cut off by the sounds of crackling and the sudden pain in his legs as the floor lit up in sparks. It lasted only for a second.

The Irish man behind him cackled. “Ahhh, silence. Now listen. Like I said I’m not the one who put you all here. That person is among you lot. I’m just here to make sure the game is played fairly. Now then, 3-5-1-8.”

What game? Whats happening? The more he tried to remember how he’d gotten there the more clouded his head felt. Had he been drugged? The green-headed Irishman just kept replaying to same numbers over and over 3-5-1-8, 3-5-1-8. Mark quickly ran a hand through his own red locks, tugging slightly to help him focus on entering the numbers into the keypad. It beeped four times and clicked open. He took a deep breath, pulled the handle, and stepped into a larger room. 

This one looked like a warehouse of sorts. There was a giant, closed bay door off to his far right and another enormous plasma screen in front of him. He turned around and notice the room he had come out of was actually some kind of repurposed shipping container. It was against the back wall with other ones. Five in total. Did that mean there were four others trapped in here with him? He came out of the second one.

He was about to pick a random unit and bang on the door when he heard two clicks in succession and saw that the doors to the first and fouth doors open. Two young men stepped out of each. The fourth one had contained a tall somewhat skinny man with what can only be described as a ‘jew ‘fro’ while the first contained “FELIX!” Mark ran for the first person he’d recognized since this whole ordeal had begun. 

And was punched for it. 

“YOU SON OF A BITCH! YOU THINK YOU CAN SHOCK ME??!” He grabbed mark by the front of his flannel ready to hit him again when he was stopped and pulled away by the other man. “No let go of me!” 

“WOAH CALM DOWN! We need to focus on getting the fuck out of here.”

The red-head picked himself off the floor. “Felix why-“

“How do you know my name? Huh? Who set you up to this? You tell me the guy who did this is among us and then I find you? I should kill you!!” He began to fight against the taller man’s hold in earnest.

Another click was heard. All three men looked up and saw the door to unit three had opened.

This time a young man about Mark’s height stepped out. A man with neon green hair.

Mark knew instantly what had just happened and pointed at the man he just knew would have and Irish accent “Felix look! You saw me on your screen, right? That’s who I saw!” Startled by the commotion the new guy looked at them. “So, you really are here?! You with the fookin afro!” 

Mark stepped in green-hairs path “It’s not what you think, it’s not him! You saw him on the monitor, right? We all saw different people! I saw you! Felix saw me! Alright? My names Mark. Who are you?”

The Irishman throughout Mark’s entire attempt to call him had not let his off afro guy, but he did look visibly calmer, “Jack. M’names Jack.”

“I’m Danny.” Said the guy who finally let go of the swede.

“Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg.”

“uh…I’m Arin. And you’re who I saw.”

Four pairs of eye fell upon the last storage unit whose door no one had heard open.

The man, Arin, was again about Mark’s height and kinda portly. he had almost shoulder length brown hair with a single blond streak off to the right side.

Danny ran a hand through his hair “So I was right. You were the last one then.”

Jack looked back “What?”

“Well he was on my screen and I hadn’t see him yet so I just assumed he was in the last pod.” 

Suddenly all five doors closed one by one and the screen behind them flicked to life revealing a too familiar red-head.

“Hello! My name is Mark! Is Everyone finally here?” it beamed. The resemblance was startling. Even the voice was the same as his own.

Mark felt sick. That’s when the images changed to that of Jack’s, “Gather round, gather round, kick your feet up and grab some popcorn! The game is about to begin!”


	2. One For The Money

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group learns a little more about what brought them all here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To keep things simple, the names of the AIs various faces will be written as J.A.C.K, F.E.L.I.X, M.A.R.K, D.A.N.N.Y, and A.R.I.N.

There are two different kinds of silence. There’s the one everyone knows about. The silence that is to be expected when at an important presentation or at a live performance. So as not to distract. Then there’s the type that comes from fear. That silence that happens when at that same speech or performance, a racial slur is used and everyone goes stock still. So still that you can no longer hear breathing. That was the silence that overcame the warehouse when the AI seemed to look them all in the eye at once and said, “Alright. First thing first. If you interrupt me I will kill you.” 

Mark’s nails dug into his palms as he tried to calm the blood rushing through his ears. His every sense was trained on the screen in front of him. Every instinct in his body telling him he was going to die. He could hear nothing. Nothing at all. Not a single noise could be heard around him. Not even breathing. Not even his own. He was so scared he thought he was going to black out.

The AI cycled from face to face. Each holding a smile he knew none of them could replicate. It watched them. Waiting for one of them to slip up. It stopped on F.E.L.I.X. and chortled, “Oh, you bros thought I was serious? I couldn’t do that if I wanted to! But seriously I can and will take a point away and give it to whoever asks for it. But what are points? POINTS ARE HOW THE GAME IS PLAYED! Each team of one is tasked to earn fifteen points. If you do that and scurry back to your pod home, I’ll lift it up to the surface and the game will be over. Or…you can choose to wait until your other bros have fifteen as well. Win a game, win a point. At the end of the day the 2 with the least amount of points will go into a penalty round where the winner decides who loses. The game is then continued until one, or more, of you win, or until you all lose. Ok NOW you may speak.”

“Why are we here?” 

The screen flashed to J.A.C.K. to mirror the one who asked the question “Social experiment. Completely voluntary o’course.” The screen went black before it played what looked like a security tape from one of the pods. It was centered on the real Jack who had a hand braced against one of the walls as his pod seemed to sway from side to side. He considered the camera and began to talk “Oh this is scary. Have I told ye I don’t like heights? Oh god please don’t drop…” He took a deep breath and continued, “What if it’s not even movin’? What if it’s just swaying from side to side wit hydraulics or somet’in?” He looks down at the metal floor, “It feels like such a long way down but I can do this. I just gotta live with a few random people and do a few random things and then I can save her. They said I could die. They said I might go mad and kill someone else down here, “he chuckled “but I mean I don’t t’ink I will, but God it’s so much money they’re offering.” His voice trailed off for a bit. “Seriously what is this vault 111 where da fook are we go-“ An alarm all at once began to blare and smoke began to fill the room “NO! NO ITS FALLING!!” He dropped to his knees and braced himself for the impact, the white smoke filling the room and knocking him unconscious. The screen went black again and J.A.C.K came back with an expectant look, eyebrows raised “We cool now? Ok cool. You didn’t fall by the way.”

Mark turned back to look at Jack who took a step forward “I don’t remem-“

“O’ course you don’t remember! That’s the point o’ the gas!” The screen flashed to D.A.N.N.Y. “I mean I could show everyone else’s but they’re all pretty selfish. Danny wants to save his grandma, Arin wants to save his friends, Felix his family, you your girlfriend, and hottie over here his umm…y’know what I’ll tell you later.”

This time the real Danny spoke up “None of that sounds selfish at all!” 

The screen went black again and this time it was Danny’s pod camera. He leaned up against the corner as he was lowered. “I don’t care how selfish I have to be. I HAVE to win. I HAVE TO…”

“OK I GET IT! TURN IT OFF.”

The screen abruptly changed to M.A.R.K, “Oh you look like you’re just dying to ask. But I’m not going to tell you. It’s much more fun this way.”

“Leave ‘em alone!”

“Little boy are you threatening me? Fine! The Q and A is over! The first game starts now.”

The same alarm from Jacks camera pod echoed across from the far-right wall as it began to lower, revealing a set of unmarked security doors. One of the middle most door beeped four times and slid open.

M.A.R.K leaned forward and pointed towards the side of the screen, his face deadly serious “From this point onwards you have 30 seconds to cross the threshold of any unlocked door. After that the doors will lock and you will have forfeited the game. In case it wasn’t obvious the first time, you die in the game you die in real life. 13…12…11…”

Danny was the first to move forward, grabbing the arm of the person closest to him which happened to be Arin “GUYS COME ON WE GOTTA MOVE!”

They made it through just as the countdown reached 3 and just as promised, the doors beeped and slammed shut with no regard as to who or what may have still been in the way. They caught their collective breaths, inspecting the new environment. It looked like a bigger version of their storage pods with a round table in the middle that was tall enough for them to stand at. This room had two monitors.

Arin turned to Danny “Hey man…thanks…for-“

Danny fiddled with his jacket, embarrassed “No problem. Listen I don’t know why I grabbed you it was-“

“Reflex right? Yeah that’s-“

“No. I…feel like I…know you from somewhere.”

One of the monitors turned on, displaying A.R.I.N. “Some of you do know each other. I won’t say who though. Certain words or events here may trigger some memories but for the most part none of you remember your outside lives at all. Meaning, you have the option to lie. Create false friendships. Be in cahoots and stab em in the back later! I don’t care just make it interesting ok? Now then, gather around the table, this first game is pretty simple. It’s never have I ever. But the best part of this is: You don’t remember if you have or not! I’ll give a scenario and all you need to do is raise your hand if you have ever done it, like ever! You gain a point for every truth and lose a point for every lie. The next game is team based so think of this as a way of understanding who can be trusted.”

The group slowly shuffled to the table, gravely trying to remember themselves before the onset of this ordeal. As far as Mark knew, they were all underground competing for money that could somehow save people? But is that why he was here? Was he trying to save someone? 

The second monitor came to life displaying a scoreboard. They each had five points to start with, except…

“Egofaptor? Who the hell is that?”

“Jacksepticeye? Ew. That’s fooking disgusting.”

“Danny Sexbang. HA! I love it.”

“Pewd…pie…die…wait. Pew-die-pie? WHAT?”

“No I think its like Pewdy and pie.”

“Oh! I CALL THAT ONE!”

“Wait so Im stuck with egofaptor? Oh shit that says raptor.”

“Markiplier?” Why is that so familiar…

F.E.L.I.X. smiled to himself “You’re all bonding that’s so cute.” He cooed, “First question. Never have I ever…snooped through a persons bedroom without telling them.”


End file.
